World Briefing | Middle East: Kuwait: New Theory On Iraqi Shell

An Iraqi explosive that landed in Kuwait this month may have been an antiaircraft round fired in self-defense rather than a mortar shell, the United Nations said. A spokesman for a United Nations mission along the border said an investigation had found that Iraq was firing antiaircraft rounds at American and British warplanes that were flying over southern Iraq at the time of the incident. Kuwaiti and United Nations officials initially identified the explosive as an 82-millimeter mortar shell but the United Nations said its investigation had concluded that a crater found in Kuwait ''could have resulted'' from a 57-millimeter antiaircraft round. Douglas Jehl (NYT)